Another reason the United States Postal Service (USPS) is behind the times is the classic PO Box. I went to renew the PO Box for Color by the Sun today. I got a renewal notice via email (which is a nice feature, btw) last week that told me I could renew for 6 months for $55. So I'm at the counter and told the clerk I wanted to renew. He asked if I would like to renew for 6 months for $55. I asked him how much it would be for 1 year. He said, oh, a hundred and something. Then he checked and it was $110 for the year. I sarcastically replied, wow, what a deal. Give me 6 months then. Just out of curiosity, I called my local UPS Store to inquire what the box rates are for the UPS Mail Service. The UPS Store worker told me that a small box would be $16 month, so 6 months would be $96, or I could do 12 months and get 3 months free. So $144 for the year for the UPS Mail Service or $110/year for the USPS service. The UPS Mail Service has several additional benefits, like getting a real address, package notification by text or email, accepting of packages from all carriers, mail forwarding, and call-in mail checking by phone.

I did a brief search on the number of PO Boxes and found that most Central Business Districts (CBDs) have over 100,000 PO Boxes available. I don't know what the "unused" rate is for USPS PO Boxes, but I'd be willing to bet that if they offered a $10 discount for 1 year and made it an even $100/year, they would retain more PO Box users. They would have signed me up for a year on the spot.

Retaining customers should always be a priority. Using a little common sense marketing and giving your existing customers some incentive to renew for a longer term is easy. Thinking like a business isn't so easy when you are part of the government.